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Question: I'm a junior software developer that did not get a CS degree. What would be the best way to learn and understand this sort of stuff? Coursera/Khan? A

Question: I'm a junior software developer that did not get a CS degree. What would be the best way to learn and understand this sort of stuff? Coursera/Khan? A book?

anonymoushn 14y ago
The math behind this stuff is in the first third of most calculus textbooks. The CS half can be found in CLRS. You can also probably learn it from TopCoder tutorials or usacogate (I recall there being a mirror of usacogate that did not require you to do all of the problems in order to advance).
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I'm very bad at calculus , but I can work out Big O intuitively quite easily.
  - dllthomas 14y ago
    Even average case complexity?
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      Enough to guess with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
      - eru 14y ago
        Only for the simple stuff (and that might be good enough for you). Average case complexity is devilishly hard in general, and even worst case complexity is super hard. E.g. try analysing fibonacci heaps `intuitively'.
- henrikschroder 14y ago
  CLRS? Why you young whippersnapper! Back in my day it was called CLR, and those three letters were good enough for us! Kids these days... mmanfrin, it's this book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Algorithms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Algorithms
  - why-el 14y ago
    The book along was a little terse for me. The videos from OCW however are priceless, even entertaining sometimes.[1] [1] http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/index.htm http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...
jat850 14y ago
Coursera, no doubt. I took 2 courses with Tim Roughgarden; they were awesome. And I just finished 2 more with Sedgewick. If you can find the Sedgewick courses, I recommend picking up his book (actually, I recommend it anyway) - Algorithms, Sedgewick & Wayne, 3rd ed.
- meepmorp 14y ago
  Also, there's a book site for the Sedgwick & Wayne book: http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/ http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/ There's a lot of good stuff.
dhissami 14y ago
Some other resources besides CLRS... Free interactive Python textbook on Algorithms & Data Structures: http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/pythonds/index.html http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/pythonds/index... Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne of Princeton have a great textbook (code samples in basic Java): http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4th-Edition-Robert-Sedgewick/dp/032157351X/ http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4th-Edition-Robert-Sedgewic... They also teach a two-part Algorithms course on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&search=algorithm https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&search... Thomas Cormen (the C in CLRS) also has a new book called Algorithms Unlocked which introduces some popular algorithms in pseudocode. http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Unlocked-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262518805/ http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Unlocked-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp...
pvarangot 14y ago
Try the video course that goes with the Cormen book on Algorithms. You can start it right now, its not a scheduled course like Coursera but more a repository like Khan. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/index.htm http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

Question: I'm a junior software developer that did not get a CS degree. What would be the best way to learn and understand this sort of stuff? Coursera/Khan? A book?

anonymoushn 14y ago

The math behind this stuff is in the first third of most calculus textbooks. The CS half can be found in CLRS. You can also probably learn it from TopCoder tutorials or usacogate (I recall there being a mirror of usacogate that did not require you to do all of the problems in order to advance).

jiggy2011 14y ago
I'm very bad at calculus , but I can work out Big O intuitively quite easily.
- dllthomas 14y ago
  Even average case complexity?
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    Enough to guess with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
    - eru 14y ago
      Only for the simple stuff (and that might be good enough for you). Average case complexity is devilishly hard in general, and even worst case complexity is super hard. E.g. try analysing fibonacci heaps `intuitively'.
henrikschroder 14y ago
CLRS? Why you young whippersnapper! Back in my day it was called CLR, and those three letters were good enough for us! Kids these days... mmanfrin, it's this book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Algorithms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Algorithms
- why-el 14y ago
  The book along was a little terse for me. The videos from OCW however are priceless, even entertaining sometimes.[1] [1] http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/index.htm http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

jat850 14y ago

Coursera, no doubt. I took 2 courses with Tim Roughgarden; they were awesome. And I just finished 2 more with Sedgewick. If you can find the Sedgewick courses, I recommend picking up his book (actually, I recommend it anyway) - Algorithms, Sedgewick & Wayne, 3rd ed.

meepmorp 14y ago
Also, there's a book site for the Sedgwick & Wayne book: http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/ http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/ There's a lot of good stuff.

dhissami 14y ago

Some other resources besides CLRS... Free interactive Python textbook on Algorithms & Data Structures: http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/pythonds/index.html http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/pythonds/index... Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne of Princeton have a great textbook (code samples in basic Java): http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4th-Edition-Robert-Sedgewick/dp/032157351X/ http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-4th-Edition-Robert-Sedgewic... They also teach a two-part Algorithms course on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&search=algorithm https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&search... Thomas Cormen (the C in CLRS) also has a new book called Algorithms Unlocked which introduces some popular algorithms in pseudocode. http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Unlocked-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262518805/ http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Unlocked-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp...

pvarangot 14y ago

Try the video course that goes with the Cormen book on Algorithms. You can start it right now, its not a scheduled course like Coursera but more a repository like Khan. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/index.htm http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...